Harry Styles' flying instructor was killed in a plane crash, along with his son's 25-year-old friend
Pilot Nick Jefferies aged 54, who once gave flying lessons to the 'One Direction' singer Harry Styles, died in a plane crash in Mid Wales in 2016. He and his passenger, 25-year-old Scott Penlington (a friend of Jefferies's son) were on their way to pay his son a visit in Swansea. Reportedly, a post-mortem examination revealed that the two died of multiple injuries caused by the crash. Nick's daughter Emilie and Harry were of the same age, went to same classes and were each other's Prom Date in grade 11.
The inquest jury in Welshpool, Mid Wales heard that the pilot owned the Eurostar EV-97 and had flown for about 350 hours since qualifying in 2014. Daily Mail quotes a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in February which found out that the aircraft had not recovered from an inadvertent maneuver, "Witnesses reported having first heard an aircraft engine making an unusual noise when the aircraft was flying straight and level, before seeing the nose dropping and the aircraft 'plummeting' down and spinning. Another witness saw the aircraft 'corkscrewing' downwards and noted that a wing had folded back."
The report apparently suggests that there could have been some potential collision with an object which had distracted the pilot from taking any immediate action. "A medical event or incapacitation of either pilot or passenger is possible or, alternatively, an unknown external event such as a potential collision with an object or bird could have led the pilot to take abrupt avoiding action." Rebecca Fleck who witnessed the plane crash on her farm in Cwmbach, near Builth Wells in Powys, exclaimed that she was out walking when the plane crashed "having no noise and spinning like a seed" ( as she mentioned).
BBC states that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch found a structural failure in the wing which according to an expert was due to an overload or stress. The plane was traveling at 97mph (155km/h) but when the speed increased to 120mph (195km/h), the pressure, increased with it. Jefferies was described as a very thorough, and conservative pilot by the coroner for South and Mid Wales, Andrew Barkley. MetroUK quotes another witness of the crash claiming, "I saw the plane coming straight down, it just seemed to be spinning. I then heard an almighty thud. I didn’t see any flames, didn’t see any smoke, it was as if it was just falling out of the sky."
Harry Styles and Emilie Jefferies reportedly dated for a brief time before he competed in 'X-Factor.' Emilie now teaches English and Drama in Madrid, Spain, and the two have maintained their friendship. Jefferies took Styles to flying lessons on his single-engine two-seater plane which is adorned in the Union Flag color.